Pitzer College announces disclosure of holdings in military and weapons manufacturers; students continue Gaza solidarity encampment

On Friday, May 3, Pitzer College President Strom C. Thacker and Pitzer Board of Trustees Chair Donald P. Gould released a statement announcing that Pitzer “will make material disclosure of its holdings in military and weapons manufacturers, if any” by June 30, 2024. The statement added that the school’s Board will also “review its policy on endowment disclosure to determine what additional information on endowment holdings it can provide to the Pitzer community on an ongoing basis,” and will begin to provide that information by Sep. 30, 2024.

In their statement, Thacker and Gould explained that this decision was a result of a meeting between themselves, three Pitzer students and one faculty member about recent campus protests calling for divestment and an academic boycott of Israeli universities.

“The Israel-Hamas war that began last fall has instigated many conversations in our community around global politics, history, religion, free speech and expression, and inclusivity,” the statement reads. “These discussions are often challenging and impassioned, and we are proud of the integrity and respect with which Pitzer community members have engaged with one another.”

This announcement comes after Pitzer students joined many other colleges nationwide with the setup of an encampment standing in solidarity with Palestine on Pitzer’s Commencement Plaza. The encampment — organized by Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Claremont Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Claremont Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) — began with students setting up tents on the Pitzer Mounds on Friday, April 26, one week prior to Thacker and Gould’s announcement. 

Pitzer’s encampment comes in the midst of similar demonstrations across the nation, including at UCLA where police arrested more than 200 student protestors and took down their encampment Thursday, May 2.

Over the past week, students have consistently occupied Pitzer’s Mounds and Commencement Plaza, sleeping in tents and eating food donated by the community. They have strung cardboard signs throughout the tents with messages calling for three main demands: full divestment from Israel and weapons manufacturers, an academic boycott from Israeli universities and a halt to student repression referencing the April 5 arrests of 20 5C students at Pomona College.

Each day SJP and JVP have held numerous events at the encampment including community building, processing spaces, art and dance workshops and teach-ins from guest speakers such as UC Riverside professor Dylan Rodriguez.

A Pitzer student and member of SJP, who asked to remain anonymous, emphasized the importance of the encampment moving to Commencement Plaza, where Pitzer holds its graduation ceremony.

“We want to remind ourselves of why we’re doing this and we’re taking up Commencement Lawn because that seems to be the thing that the school cares about most or the place the school cares about most,” she said. “We want to use that as a pressure point so that they can’t ignore us because they were trying to ignore us before.”

In an April 30 post on Instagram, SJP and JVP furthered this sentiment, beginning a countdown that will end on May 11, the day of Pitzer’s commencement.

“Pitzer Admin and Board of Trustees, you have 11 days to meet our demands,” the post reads. “Commit to negotiations with us or expect no business as usual.”

Along with the encampment, Pitzer students organized to disrupt Pitzer’s Alumni Weekend, which took place Friday, April 26 — the same day the encampment began — through Sunday, April 28, by taking the stage during an alumni concert event to chant and give speeches calling for divestment. Multiple Pitzer alumni partnered with current students in their efforts, standing up and exiting during a speech given by Thacker.

The protesters were heavily criticized by Jan Barker Alexander, Pitzer’s interim vice president & dean of student affairs in an email sent to students on May 1. In the email she cited their actions as violations of the Claremont Colleges Policy on Demonstrations, calling out students for disrespecting workers at the event.

“It was disrespectful to the artists, staff, vendors, and others who were unable to perform, work, or operate as planned,” Barker Alexander wrote in the email. “The inability to share their creative arts and expression deprived our community of an important educational opportunity. These actions also negatively impacted the livelihoods of external vendors who were unable to sell their products.”

Pitzer Alums for Justice in Palestine created a petition in which alumni can pledge to withhold donations to Pitzer until the college agrees to divestment and an academic boycott of all study abroad programs in Israel.

“In line with my commitment to Pitzer College’s social justice mission, and as a proud alum, I pledge to withhold donations from Pitzer until the College ends its complicity in Israeli oppression of Palestinians,” the pledge states.

The petition has since gained 494 pledges addressed to Thacker, Gould and Pitzer Vice President Gary Cordova.

“It makes [administration] look bad for us to be against them, but it makes them look way worse for alumni to be against them,” a second anonymous Pitzer student said. “Especially since they hold a different kind of power with donating in a way that we don’t.”

Despite this mobilization of Pitzer students, alumni and faculty directly focused on Palestinian liberation, Friday’s statement does not directly promise to meet the community’s demands.

While Thacker and Gould referenced conversations around “the Israel-Hamas war,” their pledge to disclose does not include anything in regards to Israel or Palestine, nor is it a promise of divestment. Gould made this clear in a second statement he authored, linked in his and Thacker’s initial statement.

“Regarding divestment, the Board has consistently held that divestment must be a rare action and, as a prerequisite, must reflect near unanimous support across all College constituencies,” Gould wrote in his statement. “We also do not believe that taking positions on any number of contentious geopolitical issues is in the College’s best interests. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, the Board has deliberately not taken actions that could imply the College has adopted an institutional position on the conflict.”

While they see disclosure as a positive step, in a joint statement, SJP and JVP explained Pitzer has not come close to meeting their demands.

“We have gained vital information necessary for future divestment; however, information without action is not enough,” the joint statement reads. “We must hold the Board to [their] commitment and demand more.”

They go on to reference the Pitzer Board’s 2014 decision to divest from fossil fuel stocks, which Gould also discussed in his statement. Gould explained that after a three-year process, Pitzer’s endowment became the lead investor in a new fund it designed for “responsible investing.”

“The fund must balance its responsible investment goals with other requirements such as broad diversification to manage risk and the paramount objective of achieving a strong return that will sustain the College’s operation in perpetuity,” Gould wrote. “It is also important to understand that the College does not select the individual stocks that make up the fund’s portfolio, and as only one of many investors in the fund, Pitzer cannot dictate changes to the fund’s underlying holdings.”

The SJP and JVP statement critiqued this idea of responsible investing, calling on the school to include “divestment from companies that consistently, knowingly, and directly facilitate and enable human rights violations and violations of international law” within the policy. 

Further, they called on Pitzer to adhere to its principles of shared governance, which have been under question since Thacker’s decision to veto a resolution passed by the Pitzer College Council calling for an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Gould addressed these concerns in his statement.

“Providing another avenue for transparency, the Board’s Investment Committee will continue to include appointed representatives of both the faculty and the student body,” Gould wrote. “The Board welcomes inquiries and suggestions about the endowment from all College constituencies, and always seeks to help the broader community understand the purpose and management of the endowment.

Still, SJP and JVP had reservations about the accuracy of this claim.

“Don Gould told us that the Board will never be dictated by College Council votes. This statement, which follows President Thacker’s undemocratic veto of a complete academic boycott of Israeli universities, shows us that the Board does not respect Pitzer’s shared governance principles. Until Pitzer College concedes to the above demands of disclosure and divestment, students will continue to escalate.”

A third anonymous student who is a member of SJP and JVP echoed this sentiment.

“This doesn’t change any of our plans,” they said.

As of publication, the encampment remains on Commencement Plaza and all signs point to it remaining there until graduation. Potential disruptions of the commencement ceremony have sparked discussion on campus on whether the event warrants protest; however, the third student was clear they believed it was necessary.

“I think all of those [opposing] opinions are obviously completely valid and widely respected among people at the encampment,” they said. “We would really love for students that have those concerns to come and continue to discuss them with us and understand that we are very open to having those conversations.”

Much like with alumni weekend, students stressed that their actions are not directed at their peers but rather at administration, Thacker and Gould, who began and concluded their statement discussing graduation.

“These graduates, with all they have overcome and worked to achieve, deserve a joyous and celebratory commencement ceremony with their families and friends,” Thacker and Gould wrote. “We call on our shared community to come together in that spirit of commemoration to honor their success.”

The third student explained that while they agreed with Thacker on this point, it was his decision whether it will be achieved.

“I would say that Strom is right and that the graduates deserve a joyous and celebratory commencement ceremony with their families and friends, and as we have made clear consistently, that is completely possible if demands are met,” they said.